Film

‘My moment of glory’: Nicolas Cage lookalikes assemble in London

On a sunny, bustling late afternoon outside a cinema in Soho, central London, more than 100 people have gathered, a number of whom sort of, if you squint, look a little bit like the actor Nicolas Cage. There is a Raising Arizona Cage, moustachioed and with a Hawaiian shirt. There are several Con Air Cages […]

Going for Goldblum: fans flock to Jurassic Park star Jeff in London

In what was once a red-light district, between a furniture shop and a recruitment agency, Jeff Goldblum is selling T-shirts. And not only T-shirts, the Hollywood A-lister is also selling his own jazz albums, while meeting fans and signing their merchandise. He has not had to work too hard to sell himself to the crowds […]

Carey Harrison obituary

My friend and sometime colleague Carey Harrison, who has died aged 80, was a prolific novelist and playwright, and a respected teacher of English. His early plays were performed at the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh and in the late 1960s he became resident playwright at Granada TV’s Stables Theatre Project, through which his plays were […]

Oscar winner’s shoutout for London music venue Cafe Oto stuns owner

The co-owner of a cafe in east London that doubles up as a venue for creative new music in the evenings said he was stunned that an Oscar winner mentioned it during his acceptance speech. Hamish Dunbar, of Cafe Oto in Dalston, woke up on Monday to find the 150-capacity venue had received the shoutout […]

‘I said there was no reason to make it a musical!’ Mel Brooks on The Producers’ West End transfer

The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced that its acclaimed production of The Producers is to transfer to the West End this autumn. Having sold out its three-month run at the 180-seat London venue before first night, it is set to move to the Garrick theatre. But according to its original creator Mel Brooks, the musical […]

Tony Kinsey obituary

The jazz drummer and composer Tony Kinsey, who has died aged 97, was a major figure in the transformation of the postwar modern jazz landscape in Britain. Kinsey and contemporaries such as John Dankworth and Ronnie Scott were intent on creating their own versions of jazz modernism from the late 1940s onwards. Inspired as they […]

Phyllis Dalton obituary

Phyllis Dalton won her first Oscar in 1966 for designing – also abrading, staining, tattering and otherwise making more real – the 5,000-plus costumes of David Lean’s epic movie of Doctor Zhivago. She clad Tsarist socialites and post-revolutionary masses, and talked extras out of shedding their Russian army greatcoats on location shooting in a hot […]

Cult London film venue Prince Charles cinema under threat of closure

The Prince Charles cinema in central London, long a site of pilgrimage for those interested in cult and hard-to-find films, has launched a petition saying its existence is under threat from its property developer landlords. In a statement on petitions website 38degrees.org.uk, the cinema says that Zedwell LSQ Ltd (who are owned by developers Criterion […]

Queen Elizabeth’s death cost Robbie Williams biopic ‘millions of pounds’

Alistair McGeorge Published November 25, 2024 12:46pm Updated November 25, 2024 1:29pm The death of Queen Elizabeth II was devastating for so many people up and down the country, but there were also some unexpected consequences. The monarch died in September 2023, just days before the Robbie Williams biopic – which depicts the Angels singer […]

Netflix quietly adds ‘intense slow burn’ movie starring British screen legends